Positively Slytherin
by Sweet Trufflepuff
Summary: One shot of what Hermione might do if she discovers Ron has not been faithful. This is NOT a Ron-bashing story.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own NOTHING. Everything belongs to JKR…

AN: I have read many stories where Ron cheats on Hermione and she falls apart because of it. She may, I don't know, but this story is what happens when she puts her mind to a bit of inspired justice before she falls apart. This is not a Ron bashing story at all. In fact, this story doesn't really fit in any genre. This is just something that may have happened.

Thanks to Kate Laing Kwok for her help with proofing and word choice help. YOU ROCK!

Thanks for reading. If you feel like leaving a review that would be great.

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Hermione hustled just behind the Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt. Her shorter legs had to move twice as fast to keep up with the Minister's longer legs and consistently quick pace. Her life, like Kingsley's pace, always seemed to be moving fast. Just two short years since Hogwarts and she was working directly for the Minister of Magic.

Somethings were still as they always were. Harry & Ginny got married and were expecting their first child. Ron fulfilled his dream of trying out for the Chudley Cannons. He wasn't selected for the Cannons but had taken a job as a professional Quidditch player for a team in Greece. Not his ideal team but a good place to start.

They had been apart for 6 months and the letters from Ron had been few and far between. While they lacked much of any personal information, Hermione still missed her longtime boyfriend. Well, fiancée' since Ron had given her a ring before leaving for the Quidditch season.

The Minister and his staff of five which included not just Hermione, but Draco Malfoy as well, made their way to the Office of International Travel. The gaggle of reporters that perpetually followed the Minister everywhere were looking for the next big story. Several other reporters were milling about the travel office reporting what celebrities were arriving or departing and with whom.

The Minister & his entourage reached the travel office and waited for the incoming travelers to arrive before being allowed to use the port key platform. Much to Hermione's surprise, Ron was the arriving traveler and he arrived with a woman. He was holding her hand and kissed it. He gave the woman a look of love he had never given Hermione. They turned around to leave the platform area. He took one step forward when he locked eyes with Hermione.

 _Ron is back!_ Hermione thought just a moment before, _Ron is holding hands with somebody, another woman._ When Hermione saw Ron holding another woman's hand and the bright red flush of his face after he saw her, Hermione took his ring off. She looked at it for a moment before she decided on a little payback. Since there were always reporters around she had learned the art of stealthy movement. She quietly moved closer to where Ron and the strange woman were standing, frozen yet watching her. When she had distanced herself from the Minister and was halfway between the reporters and Ron she called out Ron's name loudly enough to gain the attention of a few of the celebrity reporters. When she was sure the reporters were paying attention she stepped up to give him a hug. She slipped the ring into his pocket and quietly told him that he better propose to the woman.

Ron, not understanding, pulled away from the hug and appeared to start to argue with her. Hermione informed him quietly that if he didn't do as she said, she would make a scene that would go down in annals of history. Ron's face turned angry as she informed him that his ring was in his pocket rather than where it belonged which was shoved up his arse. She smiled sweetly at him, "I suggest you propose right now."

Ron saw the look in his longtime friend and now ex-girlfriend's eyes. "Hermione, it's not.."

"Yes, Ronald, it is exactly what it appears. And you have five seconds before I start." She may have had a smile plastered to her face but he could tell she was dead serious. Ron made a quick decision.

He dropped to one knee after drawing the ring out of his pocket and proposed to the woman he had brought home to meet his family.

The woman, Eleni, squealed with happiness and screamed "YES!" effectively gaining the attention of everyone.

Hermione hugged him again saying, "Thank you so much for waiting for this great moment so I could witness it! CONGRATULATIONS!" She turned to the woman and gave her a blinding smile with a side hug. At that moment the reporters who had been avidly watching the proceedings started to swamp Ron. Hermione kissed his cheek and whispered how she wished him luck telling his mother about this. She stepped to the side to give the reporters better access to her former boyfriend and returned to her co-workers.

Draco, who watched the whole thing happen, arrived next to her. "I'm really surprised at how well you're taking this."

She stopped watching Ron struggle with the press and looked up at Malfoy. "Why?"

"He cheated on you. Frankly, I'm surprised the weasel would cheat on you. Bit ballsy, if you ask me. But most women would be scratching his eyes out right now not watching him announce his upcoming wedding."

Hermione snickered. "No, this is much better. If he wants out of this engagement he's going to have to be the bad guy. He's going to have to break up with her which will put him in the bad light of the press. The best part? It will happen without my having anything to do with it. But if he goes through with it and marries her, well, that's also up to him."

Draco raised an eyebrow. "Well, that is positively Slytherin of you."

Hermione replied, "Oh, Malfoy, honestly you have no idea how Slytherin I can be."


	2. Chapter 2

I had no intention of doing a second chapter but I decided what the heck, why not. So here you go. As usual, I own nothing.

It took a sennight before Hermione was able to send an owl to Molly wondering if she could come to the Burrow. She didn't like how she left things with Ron and his family when she last saw Ron.

Molly enthusiastically welcomed her home. "Dear! I'm so glad you owled me. Come, sit and have some tea. I made your favorite biscuits. How are you, love?"

Hermione was choked up, "Molly I can't tell you how much I've worried you wouldn't want me around after what I did to Ron."

Molly chuckled just a little, "Well, you surprised us all. But you are always welcome here no matter what happens between you and Ron. I'm sorry you found out about Eleni the way you did. Now, stop hedging. How are you?" She pushed the plate of biscuits closer to her guest.

"Honestly Molly, it's ok. I mean I'm a little hurt but I'm more hurt he didn't tell me first. It was kind of a shock after all. But really it's as much of a relief as anything else."

Molly looked skeptically at her, "I'm very annoyed with Ron and more than a little with you as well, my girl. Ron told us what you did. It turned out well but I don't think you meant it to turn out so well," Molly chided her in the way a favorite aunt would.

Hermione shrugged, "I thought it made us both look quite good in front of the press."

"Very savvy of you, dear."

"Sadly, right now, I'm a politico. I've had to learn to be aware of my behavior in front of the press and how what I say and do reflects on those around me, specifically the Minister. I could have been much more...vicious about it but in the end, what good would it have done? If he wanted to break it off with her, well, that would have been his choice."

"Definitely a political point of view." She paused briefly, "well, it did work out and he seems to be happy with her. The problem I'm having is that I've been planning your wedding in my head for the last six months!"

"Molly! Planning our wedding? Well, as long as it was only in your head and you didn't order the invitations or anything. You like her, though?"

"Yes, I do. She is so sweet and she comes from a large family so we weren't too much of a shock to her! And she loves to cook. In fact, she's going to cook an authentic Greek dinner for us tonight. Please come. You are still family, if not a daughter, then a favorite niece." They were able to hear the couple in question enter the house and make their way to the kitchen.

"Let's see how it goes when I talk with Ron." Hermione looked up and made eye contact with her old friend. "Got a minute Ron?" She asked.

"Oookkk," he dragged the word out. Eleni eyed the other woman with a bit of apprehension having been told the history between her fiance' and this other woman.

Molly took her cue and took Eleni by the hand, "Come, show me what we need to pick from the garden for dinner tonight, dear. I'm so excited to find out!" Molly's smile had the other woman relaxing and returning the smile.

"Excuse me, Molly, just a moment." Hermione stepped close to Eleni, "Eleni, I'm Hermione. I've been Ron's friend since we were 11 years old. I hope to be your friend as well." She held her hand out and the other woman slowly shook it while looking between Ron and Molly. Ron's apprehensive look worried her but when Molly smiled and nodded that it would alright Eleni relaxed a little and smiled back at Hermione before being ushered into the garden.

Ron sat down on the opposite side of the kitchen table from Hermione. The silence was short lived. "Ron" was said at the same time "Hermione" was uttered.

They looked at each other and laughed. "Oh, Ron, what were we thinking?" Hermione asked reaching across the table and taking his hands in hers as she dropped her head onto her stretched out arms.

"We were thinking what was expected of us; not what was right for us. It wasn't right, was it?"

She raised her head and looked him in the eyes, "We thought it was but no, it really really wasn't. I love you, Ron, very much and I know you love me too, but you never loved me the way you appear to love Eleni. And I don't think I loved you the way I should have to make a lifetime of marriage with you."

"I didn't cheat on you. I want you to know that. I would never do that and neither would Eleni. Neither of us was raised that way. Mum would have killed me or rather she would have destroyed whatever you left behind." Ron tried for a bit of a laugh and it worked. "You were going to be my first stop after here. I wanted to explain what happened."

Hermione waved him off, "I admit when I saw you two I did think you had. I should have had more faith in you. I'm sorry about that. And I'm sure it's an interesting story but you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"I want to tell my friend. I didn't set out to meet anyone or anything. I met her after a match. She was there with her family and we talked. Then I saw her again and we talked more. It was nice to talk to a girl again. Like I always talked with you, as a friend. It was amazing. I don't think I've ever just talked to someone as much as I talked to her, not even Harry. The three of us always shared everything. What stories were left to tell each other, ya know? Anyway, one night we almost kissed but we stopped. I had already told her about you. In fact, I've told her everything we've been through over the years. Things changed after that but didn't change, you know?" Hermione nodded her head in understanding. "I felt closer to her than I have with anyone. Then the season ended and I didn't want to leave. I asked her to come home with me so we could figure this out. That's when you saw us."

"Thank you for that. You really are a great guy, Ron. I honestly hope you and she will be really happy together."

He smiled, "You really confused her. And I really surprised her considering she didn't know you were the woman I'd told her I'd been seeing. But me proposing out of the blue like that even though we hadn't ever kissed yet was shocking. I was shocked when she said yes, but it's really felt right."

"You surprised me!" Hermione exclaimed. "I was almost in shock when I saw you there. I wanted...I guess I wanted to hurt you. I figured if you proposed and then wanted out, you had to do it and the press would eat you alive. Of course, I would come out smelling like a rose and be thought of as having dodged an _Avada_. I am sorry, Ron. It was really wrong of me. But you're happy with her then? Going through with the wedding?"

"Yea." He paused, then added, "Yea! Thanks for that! What the hell, Hermione?! What if it wasn't what you thought? What if she was my long lost cousin or something?"

"Ron if you looked at your cousin like you looked her, all I can say is eeww. Since then, I've checked up on her; who she is." Ron gave her a scandalized angry glare. "Oh stop looking at me like that. It isn't what you think. It was just that when the _Profit_ ran the article they talked about her parents and one of the names struck a bell. Do you know her family at all?"

"Well, I met her parents and three of her sisters. And I think their husbands were there as well, but honestly, Hermione, there were so many of them I lost track of who was who." Ron laughed.

"Well, let me tell you who she is. Her maternal uncle works in the Greek Ministry of Magic. I remembered the name because I have a lovely working relationship with him. He is the Undersecretary of International Affairs."

"You know her uncle?"

"I do. I've had many dealings with him. He's a boisterous, fun man who thinks all English food is horrid, no flavor. But he's a very important man in their ministry so if you screw this up it might become an international issue. I may or may not help you out. Whichever one is most beneficial to the Ministry at the time."

"Great! No pressure then. Some friend you are." Ron joked.

"As I just told Molly, I'm a politico now, I have to play the game at least until I can change the game on them."

The last part had Ron laughing. "If anyone can change the game without them noticing, you're clever and manipulative enough to do it." Ron paused and got serious for a moment, "You are ok though, yea? I mean with me and Eleni?"

"Yes, Ron, I'm good. I'm sad that I haven't found someone to love the way you have but I hope I will."

"You will. I know you will. Just no more of that Slytherin stuff at least not directed at me or mine. It was too much like something Malfoy would do."

"I work with the man, what did you expect? Actually, you know what he said to me that day?" Ron shook his head. "He said what I did was positively Slytherin."

"It was!"

"Pssh! It wasn't nearly as Slytherin as I can be. You know very well how Slytherin I can be when properly motivated so don't do something to motivate me."

Ron laughed and held his hands up in surrender, "alright, alright. You're staying for dinner, right? I want you to meet her. Since you're one of my groomsmen? Groomswoman? Groomsperson? Whatever it's called, since you and Harry are them, I want you to know her. You're in right, standing up with me?"

Hermione nodded in agreement.

"I want my friends to know my wife...my wife...I like the sound of that."

Hermione was nearly falling off her chair laughing with her friend but the goofy look on his face when he said _wife_ had her falling off her chair. "Of course I'm in. I'd be proud to stand up with you," she reiterated. "Dinner? Oh Yea! I'm totally staying for dinner! Authentic Greek, yes, please. I love Greek food! Her uncle has given me several great recipes. I've tried a few of them and they were awesome."

Ron helped her off the floor and the two friends hugged before they walked arm in arm out to garden.


End file.
